One More Night
by Lyrix of Azn Ethix
Summary: While Gordon Freeman is busy escaping from Black Mesa, a church several hundred miles away is undersiege by the invades from Xen while a wedding is going on.


Day of Unity  
  
A small church, several hundred miles away from Black Mesa  
  
Time- 1100 HRS  
  
It was a hot as hell day out in the desert. Forty-one year old Evan Weyland was on his three week paid leave by the detective agency he was employed under. A man who was satisfied with his job. It was by coincidence that the daughter of one of his friends was to get married on the first few days of his vacation. Evan remembered when he was married fourteen years back.  
  
Evan was working as a police officer in Philadephia. Things were going extremely well for him and his career as a police officer. Until something really bad happened. Evan was caught in a crossfire when a sting operation had gone down under. Him and his partner were used as backup. Unfortunately, Evan was the only one to survive as his partner was slain in the process. He was placed under suspension for something he didn't do. Fed up with the politics of them all, Evan Weyland quit the force at the age of twenty-nine.  
  
Not able to find a decent job, his wife called for a divorce. This seemed to make Evan's world shattered to see that he didn't have a family anymore. He had to live with his brother and underwent deep depression and problems of substance abuse. His break came when he got a job offer from this elite detective agency. There, he became a private investigator that has been employed by the government on numerous accounts. He was a hard worker that earned him strong leadership positions.  
  
Looking at the rear view mirror, Evan adjusted his hat and tie. "Who the hell would want to have a wedding in this hot temperature?" he asked himself. It was too late now. It was also a good opportunity to see his good friend again. "Man, I hope they have refreshments before the wedding", he continued to talk to himself, "otherwise, we'd be all sweating". He wondered why they wanted to have their wedding at this place. Finding a bunch of cars parked in front of the church, Evan slowly drove his Escalade to the perfect spot.  
  
Slowly parking his SUV, Evan gently placed it on park and then turned off the ignition. Being a detective gave him extra rights. During his years on the force and investiation teams, Evan had to expect the unexpected. Consealed underneath his coat was a small six round handgun and three clips. Evan had a small gun with eighteen rounds total. The rest of his weapons were stashed in hidden compartments inside his SUV. His dark hair was slightly grayed out some as he placed a black hat over it.  
  
Opening the door, Evan stepped out of the vehicle and closed the door behind. He was dressed in black dress pants, black shoes, a white shirt with tie, a black vest, and a black coat. Evan had a hat on as well and black shades. Walking forward, Evan looked around to see the mass of guests and attendees gather around to enter the church. Would the church be able to fit that many people, Evan thought to himself.  
  
Making his way to the front doors, Evan saw his old friend at the door greeting the guests. "Of all the places to have a wedding, why did it have to be here?" he asked jokingly to his friend.  
  
"Evan! I'm glad you could make it," said the man. As he extended his hand outward.  
  
Even extended his hand in return as they gave a strong firm handshake. "It's been a long time, Sully!" he replied as they tightly hugged each other like finding lost family members.  
  
Sully laughed at Evan's question, "it was my daughter's bright idea".  
  
"Right..." Evan said, slowly shaking his head and immediately laughed it off.  
  
"We'll talk more after the wedding, it starts around 12:30" Sully replied to Evan.  
  
Evan nodded and entered the chapel. He really didn't like sitting up front that much. Quietly, he made his way to the back and took at seat in the last row. There, he had all the space he needed. Evan remembered how he and Sully came way back. He enlisted in the Army National Guard as soon as he turned seventeen. The man didn't like being around his family that much.  
  
He needed a way to escape, he left for basic training that summer and went back to school for his senior year. At basic training, he met a somewhat older person by the name of Sully Pope. Sully was about twenty-two years of age, fresh out of college with a bachelor's in architectual engineering.  
  
Both men went to basic at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Sully was placed as a specialist while Evan was put as a private with no insignia. Evan's longtime friend stood there with black hair and was pretty lanky looking. Now, Sully looked aged. He now stood there with his black hair that started to gray and a gray mustache. The man even put on a little bit of weight.  
  
Evan looked the same as he did, lean and in shape. He took Jojutsu classes while he was stationed on Korea for a year and studied Kedno while he was in Germany for another year. For his years in the military, Evan did all sorts of jobs. For two years, he worked as an MP as soon as he got out of his AIT. He then decided to go into Special Ops, having to train with infantry for these thirteen weeks.  
  
That wasn't the end of it. Evan had to travel around the US from California for desert training to Alaska for snow training. It was tough for Evan, but he learned to persevere. He then tried out for the Rangers, there he trained with Navy SEALs and Marine Force Recon.  
  
Evan learned a whole lot during his training with the Rangers. He even learned things from SEAL and Force Recon operatives. After his time in the Rangers for two and a half years, Evan decided to go to sniper school. Evan was sent back to Fort Bening, Georgia. This was hard for him as well. He had to learn not to be seen or heard at all. As he graduated from sniper school, Evan decided to join the Green Berets. Evan graduated with flying colors; but, became dissatisfied with his position in the Green Berets and tried out for Delta Force.  
  
Graduating from Delta Force placed Evan in the worst areas known to man. He had even been placed in Somalia during that botched mission. Evan was sent to many places in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Afterwards, Evan suffered a broken leg during combat and was medically discharged. He still kept in touch with Sully. During his time in the service, Evan met a medical technician.  
  
Both of them started to date and eventually got married. His wife continued to work in the military, but as a reservist. Evan then applied for the police academy and passed. He was then chosen to join SWAT. For a few years, he had left SWAT and worked as a detective. Evan was a man with a lot to hold under his belt. But, a sting operation went wrong that left his partner dead and him wounded.  
  
They wouldn't let Evan get the people responsible. The people were captured but used their wealth, power, and influence to evade jail time. Evan had it with the politics of the system. Enraged, he left his badge and his gun. He was in a state of depression that caused his wife to leave him.  
  
The past is the past, he thought to himself. Now things are starting to go well ever since he was recruited into an elite private detective agency a few years back. Evan was now enjoying his three week vacation. All he wanted to know was why did he have to spend the first few days out in the hot desert. Wouldn't matter, Evan could drive into Arizona and then into California.  
  
Things were going well, what Evan nor the guests and attendees knew was that several hundred miles away, a battle for mankind was being fought. Gordon Freeman was busy trying to escape from the vastly huge top secret underground facility known as Black Mesa. There was a huge massacre going on with the creatures from the world known as Zen.  
  
Scientists and other workers were being slaughtered and Freeman was trying to escape. To make things worse, Force Recon was sent. Not to rescue; but, to kill. Gordon Freeman had to evade and combat not only the alien invaders; but, he would have to combat the Force Recon operatives.  
  
Corporal Adrian Shepard, part of the opposing force was busy trying to find his way out. Him and his battle buddies had to find a way to get out of the Black Mesa. At the same time, Barney Calhoun the security guard tried to find a way to leave the facility as well.  
  
Evan had time to kill. Leaning back, he reached for the inside pocket, taking out a cigarette and a lighter. Lighting the cigarette, be placed the butt of it in between his lips, and placed the lighter back into his pocket. Relaxing, Evan took a few puffs as the other guests shot glances at him.  
  
He didn't care, neither did Sully. Closing his eyes, Evan rested and waited for the ceremony to begin. He didn't have a care in the world. Several cigarettes later, Evan could hear the piano at the back of the church play. It made him think about when he got married, himself. At the back, he saw the bridesmaids, the maid of honor, the men, and the best man. Looking behind him, he could see Sully walk his daughter to the alter.  
  
After giving the daughter away, Sully stood there. The priest started the ceremony. Evan closed his eyes and slept through the whole thing. He really didn't care about who was marrying who. All that mattered was catching up with Sully about old times. Something that they would do plenty of at the reception. Evan continued smoking his cigarette thinking about other places he would rather be at.  
  
That brief moment of happiness would soon be short lived. "You may kiss the bride," the priest said. The bride and groom locked lips as he crowd cheered and applauded. But the cheers were short lived and would turn to cries of mercy. The stained glass windows on the right side started to shatter for some odd reasons. Shards of glass flew around, as the guests scurried on the other side for cover.  
  
"What is this?" asked the priest as he stood forward. With a flash of a green light of energy, it dissipated within seconds, leaving a nasty surprise. "What is this thing?" the priest asked as one of the groom's friends slowly approached to investigate.  
  
"Don't touch it", replied the bride. She was afraid that something terrible might happen. The young woman was right.  
  
The thing that appeared to be some sort of crab immediately leaped forward and latched itself on top of the man's head, covering it completely. "Ahhhhhhhh, get it off of me!" yelled the man as he moved wildly trying to get the thing off of his head.  
  
"Bobby!" the groom yelled as he saw Bobby move wildly while screaming with agony. Seconds later, Bobby stopped moving as he slowly fell to the ground. His body laid there lifeless. Bobby was dead. The guests circled around Bobby's dead body to see what that crab like thing had done.  
  
Evan didn't know what was going on but he knew that he had to do something. "Sully, get everyone out of here," Evan yelled at the top of his lungs. Seconds later more of those crablike creatures started to pop around as the people in the church started to scream in terror as they started taking over and killing more of them.  
  
"Everybody, follow me," Sully said. The guests and attendees quickly followed Sully to safety.  
  
Afterwards, a new set of aliens manifested inside the church. They appeared human, but they weren't. These things were wearing scientist outfits and had those crablike things attached to their heads. But their arms looked completely different. "What are you people?" Evan asked himself. Quickly, Evan pulled out his small gun, with six rounds inside.  
  
"Don't move!" Evan yelled as he slowly started to back away. He knew that he would have to resort to deadly force. "I have to make every shot count," he said to himself. Immediately, he aimed for the head area. Squeezing the trigger, Evan sent out his first round as it made impact and penetrated the head.  
  
The zombified creature ceased movement and fell to the ground, lifeless. If anybody got taken over by one of those crablike creatures, they would end up like the thing he had just killed. Taking that into thought, Evan would have to kill those crabs that recently latched onto someone.  
  
Firing five more rounds, Evan managed to kill three of those zombified creatures. Dropping the empty clip from his gun, Evan immediately pulled another clip from his side and loaded it inside within seconds. This time, he made all of his shots count as he downed the rest of those things.  
  
He made good progress. Knowing that he had one clip left, Evan loaded it into the gun and holstered the weapon. "I have to conserve these rounds," he said to himself. Searching around, Evan remembered that he had a stungun holstered to his side. He had forgotten to charge it the night before.  
  
Pulling the stungun out, Evan checked the power level. "Almost out of juice," he said to himself, shaking his head. Adjusting the stungun level, he put it on the lowest voltage as possible. "Some vacation, huh?" he asked himself. He knew what he had to do. Evan didn't like this one bit. Walking forward, he knew he had to go to Bobby's body first.  
  
Kneeling down, he looked and examined Bobby's body. Gently holding the stungun, he placed it on top of the headcrab. Immediately after not tolerating the juice, the thing immediately hopped off. It was still alive. Evan immediately stood up and stomped it with his left foot. Green blood splattered all around. "I paid one-hundred for these shoes," he said trying to wipe it off his shoes using the carpet.  
  
Evan had to do that to the other people that were killed by these headcrabs. He knew that he would have to find another weapon soon, whether it would be a projectile weapon or a melee weapon. "The Escalade," he said as he casually walked towards the front door.  
  
Things seemed to be fine as a flash of energy appeared before him. Four creatures stood there before him and started to charge up their energy. Evan didn't know what it was. He had a good idea of what it would do to him. Hastily, Evan took out his gun and started emptying the last of his clip, killing two of those things.  
  
Quickly, Evan ran back and jumped behind one of the benches as the other two unleashed a bolt of energy that stuck another chair and left it into splinters. "Fuck..." Evan said to himself. He had to either evade or eliminate those creatures. Some of the shards of wood flew back and landed next to Evan. It took time for the creatures to charge up for a next attack.  
  
Evan had to think fast, immediately, he ran out into the open as the creatures were fully charged. Picking up a large wood shard, he ran forward and zigzagged. Jumping forward, he hid behind another bench as the blast destroyed another. He had to time this right. Getting back to his feet, Evan ran forward as the creatures started to charge up again.  
  
"Welcome to Earth," Evan said to the creatures as he used the shard of wood to impale one of the creatures, killing it. Afterwards, he gave a powerful punch to the other creature, knocking it down. Evan started to stomp on the creature's chest as it died a slow death.  
  
"Where the fuck do these things keep coming from?" he asked himself. As he made his way to the front, the double doors of the church flew back from a recent explosion. One of the sides made impact with Evan, he flew back into some of the rubble. He was dazed.  
  
More creatures started to invade the church. "Damn, I'm done for..." he said to himself. He could feel his right hand being jerked back. They were probably going to eat him, he thought. That wasn't the case.  
  
"Quick, follow me!" yelled the priest. Pulling Evan upwards, the priest placed the detective's arm around his shoulder and quickly dragged him to the back. "You have God on your side, my friend", the priest said, "it's a wonder how you managed to defeat most of these vile things".  
  
As the priest dragged Evan to the back, he closed the door and proceeded the drag the man downstairs to a secret shelter. Yells of terror soon followed as explosions could be heard. "God be with them," the priest said as he prayed for their souls.  
  
"I've stumbled onto this shelter when I was building this church..." the priest said, "I was a Chaplain in the Marine Corp during my time in Vietnam". "Not that much here, just rations and water," the kind priest said as he helped Evan to the bed.  
  
"Thanks, I almost thought that I was a goner," Evan replied with a thanks. "What type of rations do we have?" he asked.  
  
"Take your pick," the priest said, tossing one to Evan.  
  
The priest sat back and looked at Evan, "You got anymore smokes?"  
  
Evan smiled and pulled out a cigarette and tossed it to the priest, who caught it immediately. The priest then took his lighter and lit the cigarette. He then looked at Evan. "Hey, I may be a priest, but I'm not a saint". Both of them laughed at that comment.  
  
Evan ripped open the MRE and started eating the contents. Both of them waited in the shelter as they devised a plan to find a way to get out of here and find help. Walking to a small chest, the priest kneeled down and opened it. Flipping open the chest, the priest took out a handgun and holster. Looking around, he did some more digging and found five grenades.  
  
"What kind of priest are you?" Evan asked out of curiousity.  
  
The priest then looked at Evan, "Aye, these things were here in the first place. I may be a man of peace; but, I know that there are times when I would have to fight to keep it".  
  
The priest was right, Evan thought. The priest found some extra clips for Evan's gun and tossed them to him. Taking the clips, Evan holstered the clips and waited to see what other goodies the priest had inside. The priest took out two silver shotguns that haven't been used at all. He then tossed one to Evan.  
  
"I need to make it to my car," Evan said to the priest. Evan had a bunch of weapons stashed inside that would even up the odds. The problem is that he would need to get to those weapons. "That should be easy with these weapons".  
  
"I doubt it, it will be more difficult," the priest replied.  
  
Evan gave the priest another look, "what makes you think that?"  
  
"I've been in the Marines for over twenty years, there was something we learned called Murphy's Laws, especially Murphy's Military Laws".  
  
"Damn, you're right", Evan said giving it some serious thought. Evan took the shotgun, shells, and three grenades. He would need them. The priest continued to look around the chest and found several blocks of C4. The priest found a magnum inside and tossed it to Evan. Searching around some more, the priest found his old M-16A2 rifle, modified and a few magazines.  
  
"This is a bit overkill, y'know," the priest said to Evan. He continued, "but in situations like this, overkill is good. But, what really is overkill".  
  
"I'm starting to like you already," Evan said as he approached the priest. The priest continued to look around the chest to find some more grenades. The previous owners must've been paranoid as fuck, they thought. But, they were glad for their paranoia.  
  
"Are you ready?" the priest gently asked Evan.  
  
Evan nodded and looked at the priest, "what's your name?"  
  
"I'm Richard; Richard Trent. Retired Captain, United States Marine Corps, and yours?" the priest asked Evan.  
  
"Evan Weyland, ex-MP, ex-sniper, ex-Ranger, ex-Green Beret, ex-Delta Force, ex-SWAT, ex-detective, now working for a private agency," he replied to Richard's question.  
  
"That's impressive..." Richard said as they looked at each other. "You ready?" he asked Evan.  
  
"Yeah, let's give them hell," he said to Richard.  
  
"Amen to that," Richard replied as they held their weapons and walked upstairs back to the church. 


End file.
